New Avengers 24, Mighty Avengers 14, Secret Avengers 8

New Avengers 24

We're eight months in the future and Namor comes to Doom for help getting rid of his cabal, who he has realized are maybe a little too violent and bloodthirsty for his liking, and for help with the incursions. Doom provides neither, resentful that he is Namor's second choice. Meanwhile, Black Panther and Shuri use the distraction of another incursion to attempt to steal back all the anti-matter bombs housed in Wakanda, currently occupied by the Cabal, but find themselves facing Maximus and Proxima Midnight, left behind to guard. They barely escape and Black Panther teleports back to the Illuminati but Shuri chooses to stay behind and fight for Wakanda. Back in Latveria, Doom explains to Kristoff that he didn't accept Namor's offer because it's clear he understands more of what's going on than Namor does, so he wouldn't benefit from an alliance. Instead, the Mad Thinker has been working for Doom to study the piece of a world the Mapmakers left behind and finally Thinker has used it to map out all of the marked worlds and to trace it back to its originator, the person behind all this. Doom intends to turn the tables on this person, hoping to use the Molecule Man to strike back at the incursions.

As with AVENGERS, this book has leapt eight months into the future and now has 30+ pages to get us somewhat caught up on the state of the world. Also like AVENGERS, it does a pretty good job of it. Hickman delicately balances things we need to know now with things that can wait, meaning that we largely get good explanation without over-exposition. We also get a glimpse at what the Cabal is doing to other worlds, annihilating their people and relishing the opportunity to destroy their incurring worlds. Where everything seemed slightly askew and mildly threatening in AVENGERS, everything in this book seems horrible, like every plan ever devised has gone wrong,w which seems to be Hickman's intent. Valerio Schiti does an excellent job on the art front and overall it's an engaging and exciting finished project. NEW AVENGERS brings the last two years of stories to a head masterfully, never hand-holding and never over-explaining, illustrating a world that came about naturally well down the line.

Total Score: 5/5


Mighty Avengers 14

The Deathwalker Prime begins to transmit nightmares to every living being on the planet, causing everyone to kneel to it, but Luke Cage stands against the nightmares, fighting back and ultimately securing the ceremonial goblet in which the blood was combined and passing it on to a similarly breaking-free Kaluu, who manages to use the goblet himself to create the Avenger Prime, a mighty being with the combined strengths of the entire Mighty Avengers (except for Cage, who remains out of it) and which manages to defeat the Deathwalker Prime, freeing everyone on Earth. Cage destroys the goblet and the team decides to take a little vacation, primed to return in CAPTAIN AMERICA AND THE MIGHTY AVENGERS.

It's a pretty strong ending to a book I mostly found middling. Most of my problems with the book have been tonal dissonance or inside jokes or whatever you'd call the captions strewn about the book and that sort of thing kind of continues here but mostly reins it in to let the story and the characters do the talking. When the book got out of its own way, I liked it more. As with my feelings toward SECRET AVENGERS (we'll get to that), it's entirely possible those captions and other little bits strewn here and there appealed to a great number of people. They weren't my thing and they got int he way of the book for me, taking what could have been a personal and strong tone and muddying it with a need for forced laughs. Still, that's more a critique of the series and less a critique of this issue, which remains rather strong, though I have little connection to the main villain so it's a little difficult to feel the weight of the story. Ewing does what he can by showing that the entire planet is affected by the attack but it's a global threat that feels like it came out of nowhere, so its actual threat-level is hard to take seriously (okay, it's comics, seriously is CLEARLY "comics seriously" here). Kind of nitpicky but you have to believe the villains just as much as you believe the heroes. Still a good book.

Total Score: 4/5


Secret Avengers 8

Maria Hill believes that MODOK is behind everything and explains, bit by bit, why to Spider-Woman, who has more questions than answers. We also flash back to various points in the last eight months or so to see MODOK working with head scientist Snapper to plan their allegiance switch to SHIELD and to quickly rise through the ranks and take it over from Hill, a plan that is slightly stalled as he reveals by issue's end that he's, in fact, in love with Maria Hill.

Nope, still don't get and/or like this one. It's not helped that one of the key contributors to the series is Maria Hill, who I cannot come around to. Right now, we're talking about a personal, intimate battle of wits between Maria Hill and MODOK and I don't understand who that sentence appeals to.

Total Score: 1/5

New Avengers 23, Mighty Avengers 12, Secret Avengers 7

New Avengers 23
Hickman (w) and K. Walker (a) and F. Martin (c) and Caramagna (l)

The next incursion is coming and the Illuminati agree that they can't go through with destroying another world so they resign themselves to their fate instead. As each member of the team consoles themselves as best they can, spending their final moments with loved ones, letting off steam, or pondering, the clock ticks down. Finally the moment of incursion comes...and goes. They reconvene to ask what happened, happy that the universe isn't destroyed but worried they may have gotten some calculation wrong and subsequently have already destroyed a world for nothing. Black Bolt realizes, though, that Namor didn't show up for their meeting and the truth dawns on them, though maybe not the extent of their troubles. Namor has formed the Cabal, consisting of him, Maximus, Black Swan, Thanos, Corvus Glaive, Proxima Midnight, and Terrax, to do what the Illuminati cannot.

Rather a nice issue as Hickman has the team take a step back and analyze what's important to each of them. We see Black Panther returning to Storm (they have a tryst but she calls it a mistake, even as he admits that his only thoughts as the world is about to die were of her), Banner drinking to the thought of his final moments with Hulk, Tony pouring but ultimately turning down a row of shots, and Reed visiting his entire, spread-out family, among other moments. It's a simplistic but very nice idea, watching the heroes resign themselves to going out with a whimper and not a bang, as most superheroes tend to do. The introduction of the Cabal, too, is very interesting and certainly worthy of a gasp as we get the reveal. I think Walker's art is better here than the last one, which relied so much on serious fighting and screaming, but I still think it's wrong for this book, though Martin's colors help ease it on its way.

Total Score: 4/5


Mighty Avengers 12
Ewing (w) and Larroca (a) and Milla (c) and Petit (l)

The Deathwalkers have drained enough out of Blade to start their ritual, though they're interrupted when he breaks free and comes after them. His breaking free also allows Power Man to find Blade's chi in the city, with help from a powerful speech by Cage's father, and direct the Mighty Avengers plus Kaluu and Constance Molina to his side. They fight a bunch of Ani-Men and try to attack the four Deathwalkers destined to divvy up the Earth but aren't able to get to them before they can finish their ritual, which bonds the four into one who is surely destined to take over the world. I mean, nothing can probably stop something that powerful, right?

Man, leave it to a regular, unpowered human to lecture about the difference a regular person can make and then to be left behind by the superpowers because he's old and would probably just die anyway. But we can agree, he'd probably die, right? Anyway, that's what happens to Cage's dad here but he does get to meet little Danielle while the adults go attack. Also interesting: Spitfire and Blade are apparently together. Did not know that, but I'm a Spitfire fan and I guess I can see that, though I'm sad she doesn't seem to be rushing to the rescue on this occasion. STILL, not an awful issue, though I still think the tone could use a bit of regulation here, choosing whether it should be fun or tough or maybe if the heroes should just focus on the potential world-ending fight instead of idle chit-chat at times. Not bad, though.

Total Score: 4/5


Secret Avengers 7
Kot (w) and Walsh (a) and Wilson (c) and Cowles (l)

Black Widow has traveled through a black hole, Fury is still in a coma, Maria Hill admits to Spider-Woman, who is having something of a bad day herself, that MODOK is on the team, Coulson is tracking mysterious leads, and Hawkeye has been brought in by Deadpool and a pair of AIM agents and Deadpool has revealed to his new Avenging pal that they're in a comic book. Lots of fourth wall breaking here and very explicit about it. The issue ends as Hill reveals to Spider-Woman about MODOK and reveals that she has reasons.

Little inside baseball here: I read and reviewed NEW AVENGERS pretty immediately, then read MIGHTY AVENGERS, SECRET AVENGERS, and a handful of other books (the ones most likely to get extended reviews this week), then I reviewed MIGHTY AVENGERS, then I showered and praised myself for my ability to keep the above two reviews pretty tight and decided if I could do that with SECRET AVENGERS, I really ought to be proud. Fortunately, I reasoned, that wouldn't be too hard since I have no idea what's happening in this book and the Deadpool explicit fourth wall breaking really tends to take me out of it. I don't mind slight nods to it here and again in this day and age or full-on reference to it in strange side-books (like the DEADPOOL KILLS- series), but I don't think it really fits into current Marvel continuity and I think, therefore, it's very strange here just as I think the overall tone of this book is very strange. BUT HERE'S THE THING, MY FRIENDS: I'm accepting it really well today. Can't promise next time won't be worse (though I've gotten better with this book each issue, I think), but it's hard not to think that maybe, just MAYBE, every book shouldn't be for me. Presumably if every book were for me I'd be incredibly happy but plenty of people (probably people I wouldn't get along with but PEOPLE NONETHELESS) wouldn't be reading comics. So this issue, and probably this series, isn't for me. And that's fine.

Total Score: 2/5*

*But, as with most other scores, that's just what I think and...actually, there's no way to finish this thought without implicitly recommending you stop reading this blog so NEVER MIND, WHAT I THINK IS BEST.

Mighty Avengers 11, Secret Avengers 4, Avengers Undercover 5

Mighty Avengers 11
Ewing (w) and Land (p) and Leisten (i) and D'Armata (c) and Petit (l)

Luke Cage (formerly Carl Lucas) has just found out from the Watcher that his dad, James Geary (formerly James Lucas), was part of some sort of super team back in 1972, a team he'd never told his son about, even going so far as to completely excuse himself from Luke's new life because he didn't want to be involved in anything super heroic. Cage interrogates his dad about the team and what they did. James tells his son about a time when a bat-man (but not that one) was found dead on the streets of his homicide beat and, in trying to learn more about it, James ended up working alongside reporter Constance Molina, dark sorcerer Kaluu, Blade, Blue Marvel, and the Bear (from Howard Stark's little super team back in Gillen's SECRET ORIGIN OF TONY STARK storyline for IRON MAN), who reveals that the bat-man is actually a Deathwalker. His dad is reluctant to tell the whole story but Luke informs him that Blade is part of their team now but is missing, seemingly taken by Deathwalkers, and now Constance Molina and Kaluu are apparently prepared to go up against the current Mighty Avengers.

There's a lot of exposition to get through here as Ewing has limited time to explain James Lucas' history in a book not about James Lucas. Of course, it ties to some of the prior events already in MIGHTY AVENGERS and seems like it will drive the series further, which is a benefit not always seen in tie-in books, but it's also hard to feel like this isn't a little bit slow. There's a lot of exposition and rather a lack of subtext in favor of simply text in the hopes of pushing the story forward. Still, it's a very nearly engaging story but I think the true story lies in the story of why the Bear's dogs are so big here and not, as I believe they originally were, corgis. Boy, that's a weird word and somehow looks weirder pluralized.

Total Score: 3/5


Secret Avengers 4
Kot (w) and Walsh (a) and Wilson (c) and Cowles (l)

While Coulson, Black Widow, and Spider-Woman are off disabling a poetry bomb, Fury and Hawkeye have been sent to Kowloon Walled City in China to capture The Fury, although the Kowloon Walled City no longer exists. MODOK speculates that the city was brought back in to China from another dimension, possibly as a place to trap The Fury. It's a bit of a crazy story but it's the best they can come up with for why a thought-gone city has reappeared and, frankly, it doesn't really matter because they just need to capture The Fury. Thanks to the help of a MODOK-made gun and a little theory about the way The Fury's brains work, Hawkeye and Fury are able to take the alien down and SHIELD is able to extract him. Meanwhile, though, MODOK starts to get under Hill's skin and the assassin who had tried to kill Hill winds up dead in his containment.

With a little less happening and a little less quipping and bantering, this issue leaps out as probably my favorite so far of the new series. It's not without its issues (most of which are convoluted-plot based) but it's certainly a step in the right direction as far as I'm concerned. The characters acted in a way that felt more within themselves and some of the interesting layout choices and unconventional pages worked in a way that I thought some of the attempts in previous issues hadn't (namely the weird text-adventure game that ran through Natasha's head at one point, which was kind of fun as an idea but didn't work for me because there's little doubt in my head that Natasha has never played nor thought about a text-adventure game so framing her thoughts as such seems like it's only there as a fun idea and not anything more substantial). Still, this issue largely works (though I still can't get a great read from a couple of characters, but that may be thanks to the nature of this team) and I think toning it down works to the advantage of the book (though, in this case, toning it down is a secret strike team capturing a deadly space alien in a city that shouldn't exist).

Total Score: 4/5


Avengers Undercover 5
Hopeless (w) and Walker (p) and Gorder (i) and Beaulieu (c) and Caramagna (l)

The group of kids (they really need a better collective name) are given the night to think over Zemo's offer of a place in his organization (which is pretty much the whole of Bagalia) or to return to their homes and likely go to jail for killing Arcade. Their split into three groups to tour the area with Nico and Cullen going with Daimon Hellstrom to see the magic part of town, Constrictor showing Chase and Death Locket the more group-themed entertainment (basketball court!), and Madam Masque quickly leaving the perceived remaining leaders of the group, Hazmat, Cammi, and Anachronism, behind as she goes to her own business, saying that she's told them they can have the world on a platter and that there's nothing more she can do to convince them than that. There are surprises all around as Hellstrom continues to sympathize with and help teach Nico before revealing none other than her thought-dead ex Alex Wilder (of RUNAWAYS fame), as Death Locket continues to hit it off with Excavator, and as Hazmat forms the idea of infiltrating Zemo's group to gain leverage in eventually becoming heroes again. When the group reconvenes, she and Anachronism reveal the plan and give everyone the chance to join, telling them they don't know where it will lead or when they'll back out, but it's a chance to eventually return to being heroes and to disconnecting themselves from Murder World. The next morning, everyone but Cammi tells Zemo they'll join with him while Cammi, flying away from the city to return home, is dragged out of the sky by Constrictor.

My official mantra should be "there's plenty happening in this book" and probably something to do with the word "interesting" but it's hard not to say here again, as overused as it is on this blog, that there's plenty happening in this book and it's already, even before we start moving towards the bulk of the plot, plenty interesting. Of course, Hopeless was lucky enough to take hold of all of these compelling characters with mostly rich personalities and backgrounds before he absolutely helped himself by writing a spectacular book in the form of AVENGERS ARENA and really helping to cement where those characters are at. Now he gets to take that experience and those well-developed characters and drop them into an all-new story with plenty of exciting roads to go down. For as great a character piece as AVENGERS ARENA was, it was a decidedly contained story, one that literally couldn't go outside the bounds of the island on which Arcade had trapped everyone. Here Hopeless expands the playground with even more fleshed out characters. It's exciting to see and I'm really looking forward to where it's going.

Total Score: 5/5

Avengers 30, Uncanny Avengers 20, Mighty Avengers 10

Avengers 30
Hickman (w) and Yu (p) and Alanguilan (i) and Gho (c) and Petit (l)

The group of Avengers heavies from last issue (Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Hyperion, and Starbrand) have been transported to the future, which seems nice on the outside but is hiding something darker, as a fifty-years-older Hawkeye shows up remembering this day and his team starts to intimate the deaths they've seen and future-Hawkeye ends up beating the crap out of Stark until he's pulled off. He gives the team a few warnings about the futures they'll travel to next (the time gem will keep pushing them further) and a secret warning to Cap. Then the team is, indeed, transported away, though Tony returns himself to the present with the device in his palm that warns his team of incoming incursions. Next stop for the rest of them: betrayal+422 years.

The fight between Tony and Steve continues to be remarkably compelling though it ends quickly as they have to get their bearings and figure out the next step. The tensions raise higher, though, as Tony points out that whatever he did must have worked because here the world is, just 50 years later, looking great. Steve's argument is helped by the enraged future-Hawkeye (though he's admittedly not the best judge of character). Some strong stuff in here, some typical Marvel time-travel stuff (note who is and isn't on the team here, Hawkeye makes mention of kids, and so on), and the surprise ending of Tony returning to the present to do what he needs to do and leaving his fellow Avengers bouncing through time. Overall a pretty strong book and, though I find I can't particularly fault it for asking these questions as they're natural questions to ask, I could always do with a little less "HEY AUDIENCE, ASK SOME QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS FUTURE!"

Total Score: 4/5


Uncanny Avengers 20
Remender (w) and Acuña (a) and Cowles (l)

Havok, Beast, and Kang's group fight against the X-Council and X-Force on behalf of trying to save the world. Cyclops turns on Magneto to help his brother, deciding that a chance at saving Earth was better than what they had. He and the rest of the X-Council turn on X-Force to give the others the chance to get away, which they do, going with Kang to attack Eimin and restore Shiro and Wolverine. With the surviving Unity Squad reunited and Eimin out of the fight, punished by her adoptive father, Kang and Magistrate Braddock send the team back.

There are a lot of really strong character moments in here for our team, between Thor seeking retribution on Eimin and eventually giving the speech that should serve to unify the broken team, Wolverine threatening to sabotage the entire plan if Kang doesn't send them far enough back to save Rogue and knocking out Shiro when Shiro tries to rebel against the plan and Kang's involvement, etc. Plenty of great character moments even in a book loaded with plot and with fight scenes. It's a testament to the strength of the writing that we come out with a bigger and better sense of our players even with so much action. Daniel Acuña's art and colors continue to amaze as well. Very strong stuff.

Total Score: 5/5


Mighty Avengers
Ewing (w) and Land (p) and Leisten (i) and D'Armata (c) and Petit (l)

The Watcher's been murdered and everyone is on the case. Blue Marvel, a friend to Watcher, goes to meet with Ulana, wife of Uatu, on the moon. He swears revenge but she requests something different from him: that he be the godfather to their newborn child. Meanwhile, Cage, Spectrum, and Falcon take down one of the Mindless Ones in New York before agreeing to jump into the case as well. Finally, Blade has been brought down by a legion of were-birds after plenty more were-animals have attacked him over the last few weeks and now he's at the center of a plot to unleash a new breed of Deathwalkers.

I was thinking a lot about the role of UNCANNY AVENGERS in the present Marvel Universe and, while I love the fact that these characters all exist in this rich and detailed world where they can run into one another and where the events of the world affect everyone, how nice it is to see a book that feels so removed from all of it. Okay, so obviously UNCANNY AVENGERS is driven at its core by mutant-human relations and what that's meant the universe over (and it obviously impacted a lot of other books early on in its run) but it hasn't touched the last couple of events and it hasn't crossed with many other books (they pop up more in other books than other teams pop up in theirs) and it feels SO REFERESHING. Meanwhile, this book seems to want to get its hands into every little thing the comes along and that kind of works for what Ewing has built, a team that exists only to intercede where it's needed, but it makes it hard to see this book as its own thing. It's not an awful issue by itself but it doesn't really feel like it's about to come into its own, even with the ongoing Blade storyline and the Blue Marvel storyline.

Total Score: 3/5

Avengers Assemble 24, Mighty Avengers 7

Avengers Assemble 24
DeConnick and W. Ellis (w) and Buffagni (a) and Redmond (c)

Anya, detached from Wolverine after a rather harrowing day with him, returns to Avengers Tower to try to figure out the next step. She gets the help of Tony Stark in this next phase (and gets lectured about the studying and preparation that comes with being a superhero) and they trace Covington to a couple of different smaller AIM hideouts in her strike on AIM. In the process, they manage to recover Anya's teacher, the one whose disappearance kicked off this whole event, and bring him to the hospital. They also realize that his new Inhuman trait has to do with being invisible to machines (Iron Man can't see him through his armor) and determine that Covington has begun to simulate this trait and is using it in her attack on AIM. Now, as she moves to make a big strike, Anya meets with Cap, finally, and he calls the rest of the Avengers in to ready them to move against Covington.

AVENGERS ASSEMBLE is ending soon, cancelled likely because of sales and because its successor, AVENGERS WORLD, is already on bookshelves and in long boxes, but this arc is just one of the reasons that's a pretty sad cancellation. I've long said that AVENGERS is the "oh god, you're in pretty deep" Avengers title, with Hickman's intense, very rigidly plotted and often confusing (though good) writing and stories where AVENGERS ASSEMBLE is more the starter-Avengers book or, barring that because it sounds condescending, the more fun-Avengers book. However, this arc is playing at a bigger game. It's showing us Anya, Spider-Girl, sure, but it's going deeper and showing us the roots of these superheroes. It's showing us the way these individual heroes act and move and think and plot and avenge on their own and it's giving us their individual styles (while explicitly giving it to the young hero Anya) before rejoining them all to show the Avengers in action. In a nutshell, it is the heart and soul of an Avengers team, it is the "Earth's Mightiest Super-Heroes team up to fight the foes that no one of them could fight alone" mentality hard at work, and it is paying off. It's going to be sad to see this one go for a lot of different reasons but this arc is one of those arcs that is certainly fun to read, worth reading while it's happening, but really a deeper and more profound arc to look back on afterwards, or even during. Really good stuff and really clearly a great Avengers book.

Mighty Avengers 7
Ewing (w) and Schiti (a) and D'Armata (c)

Ava has learned, intercepting Falcon's call to Cage, that Gideon Mace is out on the streets somewhere, inexplicably freed from prison as a hero to anti-cape Americans who gained particular prominence with the movement during Civil War (though I don't believe he had a part in it, this issue retcons the idea that people, at the height of hating superheroes, took to this man). Now Ava's out to find and kill Mace while her Mighty Avengers brethren are out to stop her from becoming a murderer and inciting a war with Mace's supporters, who have formed the "American Policy Research Initiative," an organization that has set out to essentially buy politicians and form its own militias to counteract laws with which it doesn't agree. It's a delicate process for the Mighty Avengers to try to remove Mace from the situation without getting him killed or inciting some sort of war with these guys made more difficult when Ava turns her body over to the Tiger God to allow him to hunt and run free on Mace, making her loads more powerful and more ruthless, less willing to listen to reason. She makes her way to the APRI and attacks, which She-Hulk claims is grounds enough for the APRI to sue them, but they manage to subdue her with a little subterfuge and some well-placed hits. It's not over so quickly for the Avengers, though, as Mace calls the police on them and immediately makes it all look like an attack on him and his group in front of news organizations and the cops and everyone.

The power of one good issue or one good arc cannot be overstated. I was very luke(cage)warm on this book to start because it immediately got off to the sort of "silly captions and silly moments mask a serious book" stuff I tend to take umbrage with for some reason or another (I mostly just hate incongruous tones; there are ways to add humor or levity to serious matters without making it so blatantly obvious, that's one of the keys to writing). It carried on for about five issues with me not really getting anything else out of the book but last issue saw a big shift for me. Things started to actually happen and the tone really started to solidify a little bit better. This issue continues that trend (although it still does the slightly irritating caption-humor I have such a, probably irrational, distaste for) and keeps the book pretty focused, giving it an enemy and putting it into political and physical turmoil along with really helping to establish our heroes. Pretty good stuff out of this one and I can only hope that it continues this way (like the slightly slower turnaround in the DEADPOOL series after an unbelievably hated first arc).

New Avengers 14, Mighty Avengers 6, Avengers AI 9

New Avengers 14
Hickman (w) and Bianchi (a) and Dall'Alpi (c)

The Illuminati, in their quest to find some solution that's a little more permanent, continue to watch other worlds be invaded by the Mapmakers and deal with Incursions of their own only to find that even the most prepared worlds fall with very little resistance. This time out they find a world, Earth-2319, that has been separated pretty firmly into humans and mutants (with all of the mutants following their savior Magneto's example and setting up a new utopia for themselves in the mutant-established country of Tian) but one willing to work to stop the incursions and the Mapmakers. While they watch, every hero they observe dies, even the ones to whom the Mapmakers give the opportunity to flee. The alternate Reed Richards dies sacrificing himself to (very temporarily) save Dr. Doom, who was actually capable of destroying one of the Mapmakers. No closer to any answers, the Illuminati look away. MEANWHILE, the descent of Dr. Stephen Strange continues as he seeks a way to help more with the problems of these incursions. With his soul already seemingly in jeopardy from the way the Illuminati have been forced to deal with the incursions, he goes to the Sinner's Market (a Black Arts Market, essentially) and asks for a transaction that will grant him the power he needs to unseat planets from the skies. When brought to the throne and asked how much of his soul he is selling to gain the power he seeks (for the power he's asked about, he'll need to give up a fifth of his soul), he replies "all of it."

While seeing the destruction of Earth-2319 at the hands of the Mapmakers was interesting and certainly pushes our own Illuminati further into doubt and madness, the Dr. Strange storyline is the more compelling one to me at the moment. I don't know that we gain a lot more out of the Earth-2319 story than we did from the last issue, seeing the destruction of Earth-23099, except that we see Doom defeat one of the Mapmakers proving them beatable (at least in an individual sense) and, weirdly, a little bit sentimental about the loss. Back to Strange, though. Hickman's played kind of a long game with Strange and it's beginning to pay off. He obviously belongs with the Illuminati, given his expertise in magic and his position as Sorcerer Supreme but he's found that his particular brand of combat and problem-solving hasn't been entirely useful in the fight thus far. Now he appears willing and ready to give himself up to be the power he claims to be, a no-holds-barred version of the most powerful magician on the planet. It's the idea that Dumbledore would have dwarfed Voldemort if he had been willing to use the Dark Arts. It's been a real journey, mostly in tiny little snippets, for Strange to get to this point in the book and it's coming across wonderfully now. It's also a fundamental change for a character with a rich history and with a potentially richer future (there's plenty of talk of a Dr. Strange movie in Marvel Studios' Phase Three). Should be real interesting.

Mighty Avengers 6
Ewing (w) and Schiti (a) and D'Armata (c)

Luke and Jessica are swapping apartments with Dave Griffith, operator of the Gem Theater, so that Dave gets to live in the Gem, which he loves, and Luke and Jessica and Danielle have a home removed from the action that the Mighty Avengers hotline will bring to the Gem. Helping with the move are Blue Marvel, Iron Fist, and White Tiger. Blue Marvel gets along amicably with everyone, though none of them are too familiar with one another, until he and Luke begin to argue about their pasts, with Blue Marvel holding Cage's criminal past against him and Cage holding Blue Marvel accountable for retiring and hiding instead of providing a seemingly all-powerful role model for African-Americans. It's a good argument and one that, particularly from Luke's vantage point, holds water. Across town, Spectrum and She-Hulk work with Power Man to increase his strength, learning that if he studies and feels a connection with the spot he's in (they test this on Liberty Island) he is able to draw more chi from the spot and therefore is more powerful. Elsewhere, Falcon uses his bird connections to follow a far-right nutjob responsible for burning down a bookstore that he claimed promoted Marxism and who Falcon suspects is working with Gideon Mace, former Cage villain and, more recently, murderer of practically the entire family of the current White Tiger (including the past White Tiger).

There's a good amount happening here despite the lack of immediate action and I'm happy to say that this one is, for my money, easily the best issue of MIGHTY AVENGERS thus far. We're starting to get a better look at the personalities of our individual team members and understand a little where each one is coming from. Cage makes a nice speech (that could easily have gone a little far into preachy but managed to avoid that line) about his visibility (though he fails to mention that he spent the better part of his career doing it to make money, it still hits the mark exactly where it needs to) and how meaningful it would have been to know that there was someone out there for decades even before him who was a shining, unbeatable force and who happened to be black. We see a little of Ava's personality as we can pretty easily see her dedication to being a hero (which we've gotten little tastes of already) and the guilt and hurt that remains over the deaths of her family members and, as referenced in the issue, even the kidnapping and deaths of plenty of her Avengers Academy friends during the events of AVENGERS ARENA. We get Monica as a teacher, Power Man as a reluctant student (not the first time he's been there, am I right Iron Fist?), and Falcon as a total pro at his job. For as much character work as I liked in the book, the bit that was maybe coolest for me, as a big ol' Falcon fan, was seeing Sam so perfectly use his advantage and come off almost as a Batman-esque character (though less angsty and less murdered-parentsy). Some very cool stuff in here, hope this tone continues and I also wouldn't mind seeing a bit more Iron Fist, if he's going to be around longer than just as a babysitter (though I also wouldn't mind seeing that).

Avengers AI 9
Humphries (w) and Araújo (a) and D'Armata (c)

Pym, Doombot, Vision, Captain America, and Rogue (pre-UNCANNY AVENGERS 14, as evidenced by the fact that she's not a charred corpse) have been pulled into the Diamond to fight Dimitrios' troops. They have to adjust to the inner workings of the Diamond where they're only limited by what they can imagine. Victor and new friend Gibson are elsewhere in the Diamond, being interrogated by anti-Dimitrios AI but manage to convince them that the Avengers, just arrived, are there to help and to fight Dimitrios so they reluctantly go to help and, with their powers combined, manage to defeat the horde of Dimitrios' troops. Vision and one of the other AIs work together to try to find the source of Gascheck, the app that's driving the world insane, but have to swear to the anti-Dimitrios group that the Avengers will help them in their fight against Dimitrios before they are able to get a lock on the app. Meanwhile, Alexis meets with her first-six sister, the gardener Eton, in the hopes of unlocking her memories further. Back on the surface, Maria Hill has given Monica Chang and new partner Jocasta their first mission and Jocasta introduces Chang to the rest of the team, a handful of varied-ability Jocastas.

This is a tricky series because it's hard to pinpoint exactly what isn't working about it for me. When I pull back and examine the story as a whole (little Inside Baseball here: I've been thinking of changing up the format of these reviews to break down the various elements a little better and to focus what I talk about with each book to make it a little more standardized, but that's unrelated to what I'm saying oh god why did I start talking about this?) it works as a fairly interesting story. I don't think it's the best out there or the most revolutionary out there but it's certainly one that's capable of holding my interest. However, when I actually read the issues, something gets lost in the translation (or the step before the translation. In this case, it rather feels like the translation is the better part). I don't even think Humphries' writing is bad, per se, I think it just kind of gets in its own way a bit. It feels like there's a lot of dialogue there that must be unnecessary as you kind of keep losing the thread of what's happening. Until you pull back and think about the story by itself, it's very easy to miss the forest for the trees. That puts this whole series into some weird in-between space where I want to like it and want to ignore it ALL AT THE SAME TIME. There have been issues, too, that felt a little less bogged down and therefore read a bit better. Come to think of it, I think I mostly felt similarly (though I couldn't express it as well) about Humphries' UNCANNY X-FORCE. There was something there and also something missing.

Avengers 25, Avengers World 2, Mighty Avengers 5

Avengers 25
Hickman (w) and Larroca (a) and F. Martin (c)

At this present moment, Maria Hill and SHIELD, investigating an explosion in New York, find a couple hundred dead bodies including, among them, Hank Pym's. The comic zooms us to several hours previous when AIM, led by Scientist Supreme Andrew Forson and Minister Superia, was busy opening up portals to the multiverse, powered by energy harvested from the Negative Zone. As they open one of the portals, they're surprised to find the Avengers coming out of it. It's an old school team made up of Thor, Captain America, Iron Man, Hulk, Wasp, and Ant-Man, many of whom don their old school costumes. The group seems a little confused particularly when Forson tells them they're on Earth. They back out through the portal again and are next seen flying over New York. They talk briefly about their failed attempts to save Earth and we get a little flashback and see that their Earth (these are clearly parallel universe Avengers) was destroyed by an incursion but they were pulled off of it in time. They decide to continue their mission on this Earth, starting again, as it were. Unfortunately for this Earth, it seems like maybe these Avengers have a different way of helping and the last footage SHIELD has of them is Thor bringing his hammer down on a crowded street and shorting all the electronics and, presumably, some of the people. Some time later, Maria Hill calls the Avengers to the helicarrier to give their whereabouts for the last couple hours.

There was a fear in me that this was maybe going to go All-New X-Men on me but it was never a particularly substantial fear. Hickman has enough Avengers to play with, he doesn't need to duplicate more or bring more from the past here. Frankly, in this day and age, I'm pretty sure no one has to resort to that but hey, I guess I don't run things. Anyway, one of the things that's been impressive to me about the way that Marvel NOW and subsequent relaunches have gone is their uniformity across certain books. Sometimes it doesn't quite work but the focus on AIM as the villains, which has played across AVENGERS, NEW AVENGERS, AVENGERS WORLD (as we'll see in a moment) and SECRET AVENGERS particularly, but has not been limited to those titles. There's a lot going on with AIM right now and it's making a real impact on the books, maybe more so than something like, say, an event or crossover might demonstrate. Should be interesting to see the Avengers of today take on the Avengers of yesterday (and also of evil) as this story pushes forward but keep an eye on everything AIM is up to as well. Something big is brewing.

Avengers World 2
Hickman and Spencer (w) and Caselli (a) and F. Martin (c)

Smasher, Cannonball, and Sunspot have been captured by AIM as they went to investigate the strange growth of AIM Island. Cannonball and Sunspot both sustained serious injuries but are being treated by AIM while Smasher, seemingly unharmed, tries to break out of her containment field. Forson allows Smasher to be released and hopes that he can convince her to support what's happening on the island. He tells her that she's free to go whenever she pleases but that he'd like to show her something first. Once she's convinced her friends are okay and she's free to go, she consents to follow Forson, who shows her around one of the rapidly growing forests on the island and tells her that this truly is a new AIM, not bogged down by the old ways and the greed that followed but hoping to improve the future. She's still suspicious but she allows Forson to keep talking until one of the exotic bugs bites her. She begins to transform, the transformation changing her costume into something yellow and wrapping itself around her while Jude the Entropic Man approaches. Forson tells her that she will be the messenger, that she will deliver their message to the people with "low vision" who will try to strike at AIM out of fear. Their message is "everything dies."

Another nice issue for AVENGERS WORLD as more problems with AIM come into focus. AIM Island is growing both out and up, with all sorts of crazy developments that Bruce Banner says are way beyond anything the rest of the Earth seems capable of yet. Now they've captured three Avengers and turned one of them to their side, seemingly. It's a little like the earlier issues of AVENGERS, which focused on giving us an understanding of some of our newer members, like Smasher. This issue jumps back and forth between the present and everything Smasher's dealing with now to Smasher's past with the lessons of her grandfather and his stories and the bond she shared with him. It's a very nice story and one worth exploring and it gives the main story a little more of a drive. It'll be interesting if this book can sustain its pace and give us a look at some of the characters we won't see in a particularly personal way over in AVENGERS while AVENGERS tells the bigger stories, or at least the ones the require a bigger team. Cool stuff, hopefully it will keep pushing.

Mighty Avengers 5
Ewing (w) and Land and Leisten (a) and D'Armata (c)

While Spider-Man chews out Luke Cage and Jessica Jones for being unorganized and tries to make himself leader of the team, Spectrum leads Ronin, Falcon, Power Man, and White Tiger to the fallen Attilan, where Ronin suspects Deathwalkers are trying to find Inhuman artifacts for their own devious purposes. They talk their way inside where Cortex Inc.'s Barbara McDevitt, newly made Inhuman, is already searching and has already been set upon by the Hellhound of the Deathwalkers. Her new power, though, is to create limited time fields and she trapped the Hellhound in one mid-pounce while she continued working. She releases it as the Mighty Avengers arrive and they have to work together to fight it, even after it takes Ronin out of the fight. Spectrum avoids Barbara's powers with her own light powers and is able to shut her down while Power Man and White Tiger (Falcon waited outside) combine to stop the Hellhound. Ronin, meanwhile, took the artifact and left. Back at the Gem Theater, She-Hulk shows up to "mediate" the issue between Spider-Man, Cage, and Jessica as it quickly turned into punching. Spider-Man ends up leaving, deciding that Cage can keep his stupid team.

We're only five issues into this new Avengers title but, if things keep going the way they're looking, MIGHTY AVENGERS has quickly become my least favorite of the bunch. There are a lot of little bits and pieces that I'm not in favor of but it can kind of all be summed up as "it seems like this book is just trying too hard." The weirdest thing is that I don't even know what it's trying too hard to do. It's reminding me a bit of FEARLESS DEFENDERS but with very slightly bigger toys to play with. Everybody quips and the book wants to have this fun feel to it but it seems to come out forced at every turn. Everyone, like back in FEARLESS DEFENDERS, gets their own little introduction caption that wants to pal around with the audience. There are also weird questions that aren't being asked, like the strange identity of Ronin or, perhaps more aptly since that one actually is meant to be a mystery for whatever purpose, the question that every other book in the universe has asked so many times, to the point where I'm almost glad this book isn't asking it but it suddenly comes off as glaringly odd that it's not being mentioned: who is this Spider-Man? This is Cage and Jessica's first run in with the Superior Spider-Man after spending years on a team with him and there's no questioning the giant jerk he's become, a jerkiness that doesn't even try to hide itself like it so often does in different (some might say better) books. If I'm remembering correctly (it's hard to keep some of this stuff straight), Jessica and Luke even know that Spider-Man is Peter Parker and they know and like Peter so it's not like some mysterious, faceless entity behind that mask who has suddenly changed, it's a friend of theirs who has become the world's biggest jerk. Sure, I'm a little sick of every book having to do the "boy, he's acting strange" dance but you can sort of see why they do it after reading this book. Definitely not my favorite book out there and I don't know that that's going to change without a major tonal shift.

More Ant-Man movie details

So this is a new bit. I don't actually know if I talked about it when it started to come up last month but Paul Rudd is confirmed as Edgar Wright's Ant-Man in the 2015 Marvel movie Ant-Man. This still left Marvel fans wondering which Ant-Man Rudd would be playing, as there were three options for the role (but really two major options, no one was really banking on it being Eric O'Grady). Well it seems as if Marvel and Wright are ready to close the doors on those questions as they've just cast Hollywood legend Michael Douglas as Hank Pym, leaving Rudd in the Scott Lang role. The way Lang has worked in the past, for those unfamiliar, is that he becomes Ant-Man after stealing Pym's suit to use it to try to save his daughter Cassie who has a lung condition and requires expensive treatment. Eventually it gets sorted and Pym gives Lang his blessing to become Ant-Man full time, leading to Lang's affiliation with the Fantastic Four (as seen most recently in the current FF series) and to membership on the Avengers. To give away a little too much, probably, he's killed in the AVENGERS DISASSEMBLED storyline that would lead to the major HOUSE OF M business when Scarlet Witch goes a little crazy and ends up accidentally killing members of the Avengers including Lang. He's brought back in the events of 2011's YOUNG AVENGERS: CHILDREN'S CRUSADE when...okay, maybe I'm getting a little too deep into something that does not matter considering this post was originally just about casting news and its implications. Let's get to that then.

So obviously the biggest news of this whole announcement is that Michael Douglas, who will be 70 this year, seems to age Hank Pym out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Now, like or dislike Pym, it's hard to argue that he's an important character in the Marvel Universe. In the comics, he's a founding Avenger, he invented Pym particles, and he created Ultron, among other things (probably too bad for him that he's pretty well-known for striking his wife on a particularly bad occasion). He's also not 70 years old in the comics. This changes a lot of what people (me) may have been predicting about the movie. It's almost weirder that they're leaving Pym in but making him 70 than it is to just make it Lang and kind of combine the two characters. I suppose this is a way to keep Pym in the MCU but to de-complicate things a bit instead of having two potential Ant-Mans running around. There are also some other rumors floating around after Edgar Wright posted posted a screencap from Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes on his website which showed a character grabbing for the Ant-Man mask. The episode the shot was taken from is entitled "To Steal an Ant-Man" and features Lang's first appearance on the show, wherein he steals the Ant-Man costume, which caused plenty of people to think a week ago that Rudd would play Lang and not Pym. However, sources like Hollywood Reporter speculated it might mean more than that, as that particular episode also invoked, for the first time in that series, Iron Fist and Luke Cage. I waved that off at first as maybe reaching a little far, even after the article went on to link the whole thing to Iron Fist and Luke Cage's upcoming Netflix series, but I'm not as convinced now. First and foremost: can Ant-Man sustain his own movie? Second: Avengers: EMH was very clearly a sort of testing ground for future MCU concepts so it's not entirely farfetched. Third: Lang, in the comics, had a relationship with Jessica Jones for a time, also slated to get her own Netflix series, which could potentially tie everything together pretty nicely. OKAY, maybe I'm getting a little farfetched now, but maybe-OH MAN, EDGAR WRIGHT DIRECTING A MOVIE WITH IRON FIST IN IT WOULD BE THE BEST THING THAT EVER HAPPENED.

Avengers AI 7, Mighty Avengers 4

Avengers AI 7

Humphries (w) and Araújo (a) and D'Armata (c)

INHUMANITY has hit and, with it, Inhumans have started sprouting up all over and Attilan is in the the Hudson. Hank and his team are first responders and are out to investigate the fallen city to make sure there aren't harmful toxins or any weapons or anything lying around. As Hank and Doombot, overseen by Vision, search the city, Daredevil drops in and attacks Doombot, thinking, quite reasonably, that he's a bad guy. Pym convinces him otherwise and Daredevil explains that he's there looking for a client of his, an older lady who's having a hard time with a bank. As they talk about things, a green small Cthulu-like creature shows up and attacks them. As it yells for them to leave it alone, Matt identifies the voice as the woman he's trying to help. They talk her down from her rampage and Medusa and Lockjaw show up to help her acclimate to her new Inhuman life. After a talk with Doombot, she agrees to join the Inhumans and start over. Meanwhile, Monica Chang is spending her last moments not on the robot-kill-squad trying to figure out how to hack into the Diamond. Maria Hill sends Chang's first new operative to her: Jocasta.

There are things here that are likable about this issue but they aren't necessarily worth the story. I kind of like the Daredevil-Hank Pym relationship that's developed through, particularly, DAREDEVIL but here it feels somewhat forced, with Daredevil throwing his arm around Pym and commenting on his Ant-Man costume, playfully punching one another and what-not. Doombot's stuff is fun and somewhat interesting but it also kind of oscillates between fun and serious in a strange way. I also typically like Andre Araújo but I wasn't too onboard with his stuff on this one. There are a number of full body shots and they distort the characters in strange ways. The Chang stuff was the most interesting and it happened within maybe two pages. Also, Chang is drifting into "every SHIELD woman sounds like Maria Hill" territory. Still not my favorite series but sometimes this is a stall that event tie-in books have. Still hopeful for the series as a whole.

Mighty Avengers 4

Ewing (w) and Land and Leisten (a) and D'Armata (c)

Luke has officially set the Mighty Avengers up in the Gem Theater, Cage's old home, and established their protocols to a point. They're a volunteer organization taking calls from people who may need a hero's help. Things are starting up as Falcon joins up with the team too, promising to pull double-duty with both Avengers teams he's dedicated to. The Spider Hero has his own thing going on and is in contact with a magical being who is helping him to track and take down a group called Deathwalkers, who are seemingly also investigating Attilan, along with a clearly-villainous guy who talks about bottling power. Back with the Mighty Avengers, Cage digs up Hawkeye's old Ronin costume and gives it to the Spider Hero to change into, officially making him the new Ronin. Cage sends out the team to check out Attilan while he stays behind, preferring to stay out of the field when possible. Spider-Man turns up again to demand that Cage install him as leader of the team.

So this book has suffered from starting in the middle of an event, meaning that it had to dedicate its origin to tie-in. Now it's in a similar spot as it's moving into the newest event. There is an interesting conceit to this book which would put a street-level Avengers team out in New York to help average people in this new world where the Avengers only really come out to face world-ending threats. However, I don't find the rest of the book all that compelling. Right now it's a tough spot because we're not getting to really see the characters all that deeply but I think the problem is more systemic than that. I think the writing is a little strange and it suffers from the same weird tonal issues that I thought FEARLESS DEFENDERS did, where it both wants to be a serious story with serious threats and points of view but also wants "wacky" captions and "unique" humor that kind of break flow. Overall, it's more boring than it is weak, per se, and that's something that, like with AVENGERS AI, I hope will improve as we move away from some of these events.

Mighty Avengers 3, Marvel Knights Spider-Man 2

Mighty Avengers 3
Ewing (w) and Land and Leisten (a) and D'Armata (c)

Shuma-Gorath continues its attack on the city, allowed some access through Thanos' attack and protected by Ebony Maw's manipulation of Dr. Strange, while Spider-Man tries to save a gravely injured Spectrum. Blue Marvel arrives on the scene just in time to stall Shuma-Gorath and begin the healing process on Spectrum, who he gives extra photons to in order to boost her weakened areas which previously non-existent anti-photons have attacked. The process is painful but it strengthens Spectrum and saves her life. Amidst all the terror, Power Man and White Tiger return to the scene to help. Under the direction of the mysterious Spider-Hero, Power Man summons chi from all over the city and focuses it on White Tiger, who unleashes the Tiger God on Shuma-Gorath, effectively weakening it enough for Blue Marvel and Spectrum to destroy its physical presence in New York. As the fight ends, a nearby reporter asks them about their team-up and Luke dubs them an official Avengers team.

I'm interested to see where this team is going more than I'm interested in these first few issues. Starting a team in the middle of an event is tricky business and allows for just about no relationship building which leaves this team feeling cobbled together and a bit slap-dash. I think there is a part of this book where that is supposed to be true; these aren't the heroes that went to space to fight the aliens or the ones who are gathered in Wakanda, these are the heroes who were left-over. Not to say they're not a formidable team, they're just not a team. As a result, it's hard to judge the book based on what we're seeing in these first few issues. On top of that, we have a character whose true identity has yet to be revealed, two young characters with little experience, a Spider-Man who isn't Peter Parker, and a hero of a bygone age starring alongside Avengers veterans Luke Cage and Monica Rambeau. It's a strange team and one that will require team-building if the series is to last, something that, as I said, wasn't particularly possible in these first few issues. If anything, kicking this off in an event gives Ewing a chance to showcase the physical strength and problem-solving skills of the team, leaving the team-nature to later. As I said, the team is formidable for sure, just not really team, as yet, which will have to be worked out as the series progresses.

Marvel Knights Spider-Man 2
Kindt (w) and Rudy (a) and Staples (c)

Spider-Man finds himself falling from the sky into water amidst the wreckage of a plane and needs to recount the events of the last fifteen minutes. Aboard the plane, he fought Sandman, Shocker, Hydro-Man, and Mysterio, fairly big name Spidey villains and ones who probably shouldn't be, on the best of days, fought in a constricted space. Spider-Man walks us through the fights, revealing that his spider-sense does more than just warn him of incoming danger, it helps him plot his attacks; a bad attack plan will cause his spider-sense to go off while a better plan will leave it silent. Pretty neat, huh? Anyway, he uses this to best his enemies before bursting out of the plane while it disappears (maybe? The art and the writing both get a little vague at this point) and he heads for the ocean as he wonders who it is behind all of this, who's rallying the troops here and as a word floats through his head: who is the kingpin of all this?

Another interesting story with really stunning art and some surprisingly good characterization. I say surprisingly because this doesn't feel like it's a book meant to be exploring too deep into Spider-Man's thoughts; it feels more like an intense fight-based book meant to really elevate the artist more than anything else and to put layout and comic design above story and character. That's not entirely the case, though, as we see an interesting introspective side of Spidey, one which can't help wondering about the repeated failures of his villains and about their mental states as he defeats them. He recognizes that, despite all of his hardships, he's never the one who ends up in prison or losing the majority of the fights so the look in the villains' eyes as he knocks them out is beyond anything he's aware of. It's an interesting side of Spider-Man, who is one of the more introspective and sympathetic heroes in the Marvel Universe already. Again, though, it's the art that really elevates this book to a new level. It's very cool and very unique, though sometimes it does get a little in the way of the storytelling. Sometimes it's a little hard to follow and to understand what exactly is happening but by and large, it's an easy enough story and enough of a well-known character that there's very little the art can do to hinder the writing. It's not like we're trying to guess Peter Parker's motives or we're trying to guess at the motives of his enemies. We get all that, we get this story (though it's still a little in the shadows) and so there's plenty of leeway for the art. Spectacular art.

Marvel partnering with Netflix for new original programming!

Oh man guys, this is a pretty big one. On the heels of the probable success of ABC's Marvel's Agents of SHIELD and the ongoing success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (Thor: The Dark World premieres in America THIS VERY EVENING), Marvel has announced a partnership with Netflix to produce four brand-new serialized programs leading to a mini-series event. The four live-action series will be focused on individuals Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, and Luke Cage, ultimately leading to the mini-series The Defenders which will presumably team the four to fight in Hell's Kitchen.

This is a bombshell of an announcement. Marvel has only recently reclaimed the rights to Daredevil after a long stint with Fox (that saw the creation of Daredevil in 2003 and Elektra, for some reason, in 2005 - check out the "How Did This Get Made" podcast this week for the HDTGM team's thoughts on Daredevil along with special guest and one-time Daredevil writer Ed Brubaker) and the company has been working out ways to celebrate that news. On top of that, rumors of a Heroes for Hire or Jessica Jones series have swirled for the last few years as both of those properties lend themselves more to a lower budget, serialized project than something like Thor or Iron Man. All in all, this is a huge announcement with extremely high hopes and what I would call an extraordinarily high ceiling. Of course, it could always go the other way but LET'S NOT THINK ABOUT THAT NOW, LET'S ALL JUST GET OUR HOPES REALLY REALLY HIGH.

Daredevil Dark Nights 5, Marvel Knights Spider-Man 1, Superior Foes of Spider-Man 4

Daredevil Dark Nights 5
Lapham (w and a) and Loughridge (c)

Daredevil has caught up with the ten-inch tall Buggit as he finds Michael dead in the arms of his wife. Buggit takes off again after strapping a bomb to his tiny chest. Daredevil understands why Buggit's mad and what he's trying to do but also knows that Buggit is guilty of stealing the gun and takes off after him. He loses the trail, though, when he overhears cops talking about Shocker attacking a cop, perhaps killing him. Shocker was Daredevil's responsibility and he pauses in his chase of Buggit to stop Shocker from attacking more cops. He manages to take down Shocker and it makes him realize that Buggit isn't suicidal; he's going after mob boss Milo but Daredevil believes he'll try to leave the bomb for Milo, not go down with it. Daredevil shows up to save Milo, though he also insists on protecting Buggit from Milo's men. He manages to succeed and Michael's widow shows up to tell Buggit that Michael went straight to try to protect Buggit, which softens him enough to accept his arrest instead of murdering Milo. As Milo seems poised to walk away free, the monster the Avengers were busy with throughout the whole adventure falls and its arm crushes Milo inside his car.

Plenty to like in this issue with a solid core and very nice characterization for Daredevil (as well as for Spider-Man, who has a brief cameo in Peter Parker form). It certainly gets a little slow in the middle but  the issue more than makes up for it with great art and a nice showing for Daredevil. The art is fairly similar to Samnee's style and the coloring and lettering are very similar, which is simultaneous totally welcome and a little bit of a strange decision. Where Dark Nights is a separate series entirely, it feels almost like it's giving permission (and perhaps even urging this series) to try putting out its own art on the character and its own tone for the book. Again, the ongoing Daredevil series is absolutely phenomenal so making the tone so similar to that book isn't an error in judgment in anyway, it just rings as a little bit strange. Still, pretty good issue as the slightly ridiculous storyline (still hard to get over Buggit) wraps up on a nice note.

Marvel Knights Spider-Man 1
Kindt (w) and Rudy (a) and Staples (c)

The Marvel Knights line launches anew as Matt Kindt, Marco Ruby, and Val Staples give us a pretty crazy Spider-Man story. Spidey (Peter) finds himself facing off, in rapid succession, against a number of enemies who may or may not be hallucinations. Spider-Man gets through a handful of them before Arcade (a little more solidly than the enemies before him) pops up to explain what's going on; a number of villains have gotten together and planted a bomb somewhere innocents will gather and it's up to Spidey to save them, which he must do by taking a pill Arcade presents and sticking to their plan for him. The plan is to pit Spider-Man up against 99 of the toughest villains out there. If he doesn't take the pill or if he deviates after he takes the pill, the bomb will go off. Let the games begin.

Very interesting launch for the new Marvel Knights line (I said in my pre-game that I wasn't sure if it was real or not because I didn't know they were re-launching the Marvel Knights line, although it occurs to me that I definitely read about Marvel Knights X-Men somewhat recently). Marvel Knights, as A+ editor Tom Brennan explains at the end of the issue, was originally meant to be a place for cutting-edge ideas and creators and comics and this is intended to be a return to that. There's a real sense of that here as the fairly gorgeous art is certainly unique to Marvel comics right now. It reminds me a little of David Mack and Joe Quesada's run on Daredevil, though I'd say that one had a little more to it while also looking a tiny bit more cartoony with Quesada's art. That run, Daredevil: Parts of a Hole, remains one of my very favorite complete arcs so any comparison to that is certainly something that won't upset me. It's an exciting ride in this book and I'm definitely looking forward to where it goes next.

Superior Foes of Spider-Man 4
Spencer (w) and Lieber (a) and Rosenberg (c)

Boomerang has sic'd Luke Cage and Iron Fist on his gang now that they've kicked him out of it. Meanwhile, he's promised Chameleon that he'll get him the head of Silvermane in the next day. The next part of his plan, of course, is breaking his former gang out of the prison transit they're waiting in. As soon as he does this, they welcome him back with open arms, preferring his leadership that didn't put them in jail, even if it's a bit terrible, over Beetle's management that almost immediately got them beat up by the Heroes for Hire. Shocker reveals to Boomerang that he saw that the Punisher they faced down was really Chameleon. Boomerang covers for it and reveals to Shocker that, though they might not always have seen eye-to-eye in the past, he's glad they're on the same crew. Of course, that ends up feeling a little less true when we see that, by issue's end, Boomerang is shoving his car into a lake with Shocker trapped in the trunk.

The book really feels like it's found its own voice. I do think it mostly started off with a very similar voice but now that we're a few issues in, it's cemented and it feels unique to this book. The tone of the book is wholly its own and it fits it. It's also hard to say that this book is moving slowly though we still haven't started our heist of Silvermane's head. This one seems paced a little better too; there's still plenty of dialogue and narration, but it slows down where it needs to slow down and speeds back up as it needs to speed up. Pacing isn't all about cutting down words, it's about making sure the words are there when they're needed and gone when they're not. This issue is a really good example of that. Meanwhile, the tone continues to impress and feel proper for the story and the characters. Pretty solid book that's quietly developed into something altogether pretty impressive.

Mighty Avengers 2, Iron Man 16, Captain America Living Legend 1

Mighty Avengers 2
Ewing (w) and Land and Leisten (a) and D'Armata (c)

Proxima Midnight's attack is in full swing and is already devastating the Mighty Avengers. She sends a light spear after Spectrum which knocks her completely out of the fight. Proxima promises that the spear's poison will kill her, even after it's been removed. She knocks Cage down too as she prepares to finish the team off. An uprising from the nearby civilians inspires Cage back to his feet and fighting harder than ever. He holds his own against Proxima for a bit until Thanos projects his image over the city, pulling Proxima out. She leaves and the team checks in with the possibly dying Spectrum. Meanwhile, Blue Marvel has been monitoring the whole situation, with some motivation from the Watcher, and takes off as Doctor Strange, under the influence of the Ebony Maw, summons Shuma-Gorath.

Plenty going on as the series kicks off. On top of the cast of characters we already had, we now get a surprise visit from Blue Marvel and Kaluu, Stranger's master in black magic. The stakes are pretty high, as anyone reading any part of Infinity can tell you. It's reflected here pretty accurately as Proxima Midnight's attack is more than powerful enough to knock out the two strongest members of the team (depending on who the Spider Hero is). Blue Marvel has a nice scene as he explains why he's removed himself from the world as far as Blue Marvel goes, preferring to monitor the world from his own surveillance station. His character comes out pretty strong as he talks casually with Uatu (well, "talks with" is a little strong as it's a pretty one-sided conversation) and he figures out the problems pretty well. It's a strong showing for him and it's simultaneously an interesting and nice move to throw him in with this team. Solid issue with plenty of new characters and ideas while continuing where we left off, all without being overwhelming in any real way.

Iron Man 16
Gillen (w) and Pagulayan and Hanna (a) and Guru eFX (c)

The Godkiller is withdrawing into its own dimension, 451 is shutting himself down and deleting his databases, and Tony is running out of options. He attempts to hack into 451's programming to find the codes he needs to get out but even his tech can't make that happen fast enough. In a quick decision, he flies the inert 451 to Death's Head's ship which he suspects might be based on 451's tech, in payment for his tracking Tony down. He's right and manages to hack 451 successfully and break out of the Godkiller just in the nick of time. He picks up his former life again, jumping back in with the Guardians for a few months (we flash forward to three months after the 451 saga and Tony is leaving the Guardians) before returning home. Unbeknownst to anyone else, he's kept 451. He arrives home to find that Pepper (the real one, not the computer) has a new fiancee and that some new research he's done has dredged up some results on his parents.

We get a nice ticking clock finale to what has been an overall great arc. In a way, this ending was a little bit of a letdown if only because it pit Tony against 451 again, after a fashion, but it was a 451 who was no longer functioning. 451 was a fantastic villain in so many ways and it's a little sad that the end of his run (for now, obviously) has him silent. Still, I think it's the best way for it to end. I know, this sounds like I'm talking in circles (because I am) but I think I'm getting to a point. First and foremost, I absolutely loved the turn 451 took in that last issue and I think it's far stronger than having him in a massive gunfight with Tony (which, you know, also happened). It's just a little sad because you'd like to see him battling against Tony. But you also don't. You know how it is, right guys? Look, 451's a great villain, is what it comes down to. I want to see more of him and I'm glad to know that I likely will, in some form or another. In addition, 451 had a nice little narrative at the beginning to show his stance again. It seems more truthful within the narrative. Excited to see where this all goes.

Captain America Living Legend 1
Diggle (w) and Granov (a and c)

Flashback to the final days of WWII: America and Russia are still allies but they're starting to run out of common enemy as Germany begins to collapse. A Russian unit has been sent to find and extract a German rocket scientist from a bunker to help Russia as the world starts to progress towards rocket-based weapons and space exploration. Sergeant Volkov, the sergeant leading the unit (with his captain too injured and wishing not to go forward with the mission), is pretty die-hard pulling for Russia, knowing that the alliance between America and Russia is set to break down and knowing that Russia needs to get its edge now. Of course, as they start getting overwhelmed by the German troop in front of them (led by a Panzer), Captain America shows up and pretty much singlehandedly gets the Germans to surrender. As he and Volkov discuss the fate of the German rocket scientist, a stray Nazi shoots Volkov. We find, flashing forward to 1968, that Cap managed to save Volkov, who is now going to be the first man to walk on the moon on behalf of Russia. Flash forward to today as American scientists in orbit are deploying a new technology to try to convert dark energy to a sustainable energy for Earth's use. The space station breaks down as it overloads, with the station transforming into some sort of monstrosity and pulling the scientists in. The space station breaks through orbit and ends up in Russia, acting like it's being pulled that way. One word got through SHIELD's monitoring of the situation: Volkov.

It's a really solid first issue for this mini-series and it's a great character-builder for Cap (who doesn't need a ton of building here, just some reinforcing and some direction as to which Cap we'll be seeing here) and for Volkov, who acts strictly on the behalf of mother Russia at all times. Cap is strong as ever, throwing his shield through the Panzer, in fact. In truth, Cap isn't really the focus of this book as we kick off; again, where we know Cap's somewhat unflinching character and where he stands on most issues, we don't need to see a ton of him to set the tone. Volkov is extremely important to characterize here and Diggle makes sure he gets the right amount of attention. The exchange between Volkov's captain and Volkov is a fantastic characterization of each; I don't anticipate seeing the captain again but he acts as a great stand-in for the opinion of a more human person, someone who would rather Volkov go and pursue his own life rather than commit suicide in an attack against a much stronger force. Solid characters, intriguing plot, plenty to look forward to with this one. Great art, too. I've mostly seen Granov on covers to this point; it's nice to see him on interiors in a book I'm already liking.

Avengers 19, Mighty Avengers 1

Avengers 19
Hickman (w) and Yu (a) and Gho (c)

Little clerical note: not sure about this creative team. It's definitely Hickman and Yu and Gho but the cover mentions Gerry Alanguilan and the inside does not. I have to err with the inside here and think that the cover is a hold-over creative team list from Avengers 18. Still, hate when something that potentially easy gets messy, as it has very often with Marvel recently. On to the comic. Captain Marvel, who put up a pretty good fight against the Builders as Binary but was ultimately subdued, and her team of Avengers have been captured and are now being questioned by the Builders, who are curious to learn how Starbrand, Nightmask, Captain Universe, and the last Abyss in existence came to be in their possession. Meanwhile, Cap and Thor are trying to help the Galactic Council plan against what they now know to be a near endless army. Unbeknownst to them all, though, J-Son of Spartax is attempting to betray them by sending a secret message to the Builders promising them whatever they want in exchange for the end of this war. They reveal that they want Earth but don't need J-Son to get it; in fact, they can trace J-Son from the poorly hidden broadcast and quickly send one of the defeated ships hurtling at the Galactic Council at impossible speeds. The Builders have found their hidden enemies.

It's another solid issue of Infinity that still manages to keep the stakes raised and, perhaps, raise them further. The troubling questions that the Builders ask Captain Marvel about how they came into possession of their big (and familiar to the Builders) weapons are intriguing and the idea that there are still tons of Ex Nihilos and Ex Nihilas (we meet one of each in this issue) and just the one Abyss remaining in the Universe is especially fascinating. The mythos of the Builders and this whole event are clearly front and center here and it's, so far, a well-constructed one. It's well-constructed and, in truth, it has no right to be. If you had told me that we'd have another version of the Celestials, maybe more powerful even, in the more serious days of comics (the Celestials were created in the '70s by Jack Kirby when Jack Kirby was allowed to do grand and epic things, even if he wasn't necessarily allowed to finish them), I'd have said that there's no way a story could define them in any real light. I think that struggle isn't yet over but Hickman has done an impressive job building them up (ha, building). My biggest complaint, and it's fairly big because it did make me cringe and did pull me out of this comic a few times, was the male gaze aspect of this issue. There's a lot of focus on female characters' butts and even a weirdly pornographic moment with Ex Nihila and Captain Marvel. All of it feels like it's very much meant to appeal to men which have long been the largest audience of comic book readers. I think, though, it's particularly in bad taste (it's pretty always in bad taste but here especially) when it's focused on Captain Marvel, who Kelly Sue DeConnick has gone to great lengths to establish as a very strong female character. You put her on the cover of this issue (which is a great cover) and it's hopefully going to drive even more women to buy the comic (and even if it doesn't, such heavy male gaze is pretty inexcusable) so putting such a focus on the image of women is especially jarring. Like I said, it's a good issue and pretty well drawn overall but the male gaze stuff is really overdone.

Mighty Avengers 1
Ewing (w) and Land and Leisten (a) and D'Armata (c)

Luke Cage has reassembled, at least temporarily, the Heroes for Hire but, instead of Iron Fist or Misty Knight or Colleen Wing leading the charge, he has scooped up the new Power Man, Victor Alvarez, and the new White Tiger, Ava Ayala. They find themselves matched against Spider-Man when they're hired by Horizon Labs to stop petty costumed thieves. Spider-Man rails against them as mercenaries and the like, striking a chord with White Tiger, who decides that he's right and abruptly quits the team-up. Cage and Power Man wrap up and go to talk things over and Power Man is disillusioned by how defeatist he thinks Cage has become (Cage cares about a paycheck because he has a family now, seems to be the gist) and he also leaves, claiming that Cage has quit, not him. Meanwhile, Monica Rambeau, former Captain Marvel and current hero Spectrum, is getting back in the superhero game and has decided she needs a new costume. While at the costume store, she runs into an old acquaintance who needs a favor (we never see the acquaintance). As they're talking, Thanos' Black Order strikes Earth and Proxima Midnight, with her job done on Atlantis, strikes New York. Monica insists she won't help her acquaintance unless he helps them now so he dons an off-brand Spider-Man costume to conceal his identity (he's not supposed to be in the country, apparently) and the pair of them meet up with Cage and Spider-Man, who have both come out to fight Proxima Midnight.

There's a lot here and a lot to build on, which is good. I didn't feel a huge connection to many of the characters (though I'd say there's obviously love in the writing of Spectrum, who comes out best in all of this) but it's still only issue one and we have to establish who everyone is before we can really talk about them on a deeper level. There's a story already here for Ewing to work with, which isn't a bad place to jump into this book, and it requires a lot of attention and a lot of power. The Black Order are very impressive but they're not unbeatable. We saw Wakanda stave off the first attack against it (though presumably not the last, THANKS NAMOR) and there are fewer superheroes there than the four in front of us (possibly six of White Tiger and Power Man double back) though more warriors. Tricky business. Also, the identity of the Splendiferous Spider Hero (as he's so dubbed) is a nice little mystery for readers who know only that he has a connection to Monica, he's not supposed to be in the country, and he uses nunchucks. I'm not going to really speculate on who it could be because I like to find these things out in time. I was likely wrong in my pre-game at a guess that maybe we had a Miles Morales in the 616 but let's not act like that was so impossible, hm? Anyway, off to a pretty good start here.